>In the Aftermath of the Destruction

>Thanksgiving started for Julia and me on Wednesday night when we went and saw Fantastic Mr. Fox, the latest film from Wes Anderson. This movie was a blast. I really can’t recommend it enough. I’m happy to see it kicking ass on Rotten Tomatoes too. The pity is that, ultimately, it won’t get near the box office that that piece of shit Twilight movie will. Oh well.

The film was warm and funny all at once. There were parts I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to pass out. Probably because some of the characters’ spastic wild animal ways reminded me of our spastic wild jack russells, but still . . . it was just a great, great movie. It was perfect for the mood I was in and what I needed to see. My brain tends to get overloaded sometimes with all the awesome shit I think about (crushing enemies, rescuing damsels, rocking out with KISS-like magnificence, overthrowing evil overlords, that kind of thing), so it’s good to escape now and then. There is an excellent piece on Wes Anderson and the movie in the November 2nd issue of the New Yorker that is well worth reading. I can’t link it because it looks like it requires a subscription to see. But here’s a quote:

“I wanted to make a children’s movie like some of the ones I grew up with,” Anderson said.

I think he nailed it. The whole stop motion thing is a welcome departure from all that hyper-computer animated stuff that I’m getting so tired of, to the point that I won’t even go watch movies that are otherwise supposed to be good (will still probably rent UP at some point, though). Go see the Fantastic Mr. Fox.

We had a good Thanksgiving yesterday. I got up early and got in some writing, then Julia got up later and made some asparagus to take out to my folks’ place, where the feast would be held. The dish she was making called for some pine nuts to be cooked some how or some way. Her mistake was in relying on me. She called back to my office, “Tell me when 7 minutes are up!” “Okay, yeah, no problem!”

10 minutes later, “The pine nuts are ruined!” Oops. Hey, I may fail in the watching-the-clock department, but when our house is attacked by a vicious gang of post-apocalyptic killers, she’ll be glad I’m around to drive them off with their proverbial tails between their legs!

We had our feast out with my parents, one of my sisters, and three smelly teenagers that were thankfully banished to rooms other than the one I spent my time in (between my dad and my kid, I probably only got punched in the arm about 50 times; I took it, though, because only I can). Saw some of the hated Cowboys defeat the hated Raiders. Saw some of the hated Packers defeat the pitiable Lions. Didn’t get to see the mighty Broncos crush the hated Giants though, but I did monitor that game online (we were home by then, alas, with no TV to watch it on). The feast was excellent, and I came home in pain. Julia worked on some sewing and I did some more writing, and we watched the first episode of season 5 of The Wire. Pretty bummed that this is the last season.

I stayed up later than Julia did, and when I went downstairs she was waking up from having been asleep. She said, “I was dreaming of this huge pecan pie and it looked so good, I was just starting to tear into that thing. When I woke up I realized I was chewing on the corner of the blanket!”

Like this:

6 thoughts on “>In the Aftermath of the Destruction”

>Hilarious!! I can't wait to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Whenever we make it to the city. I hear ya on animated films. Overload. Up was good, but still.Chewing on the corner of the blanket, that's great. Maybe she needs a kitchen timer for xmas to prevent any pine nut disasters?

>Yeah, we discussed the kitchen timer. We will be getting one soon! What I love about the Wes Anderson thing on this movie is he had a suit made for himself that is an exact replica of the suit Fox wears in this movie. I LOVE that.

>I was totally bummed this Thanksgiving because I was all ready to see The Road (it's the kind of holiday movie that puts me in the right frame of mind for dealing with family), knowing it opened nationwide on the 25th. Is it in Missoula? Nooooooo. Instead, we still have that POS Couples Retreat taking up a couple screens. Thanks, Carmike Cinemas. I just know they'll stick it at the Ghettoplex, and I refuse to see any movies there.Sorry for the rant. Carry on.

>I was bummed that The Road isn't playing here yet too. It was definitely part of my holiday weekend plans, but, alas, they aren't to be. Fantastic Mr. Fox was equally high on the radar, though, and it's been out a couple weeks before arriving in town too.What theater do you call the Ghettoplex? Are you talking the one by K-Mart? Hell, next to the Wilma that's our favorite theater. Crowds are usually small, they have all new projectors and audio, swapped out a bunch of seats, and one of the managers is a fan of my music and lets us in free whenever he sees us. That's always a score.After the movie the other night we popped into that little convenience store right on the corner of 39th and Reserve and got really weirded out. It had the same vibe as some inner city stores I've been in. It seemed like there should be plexiglass all around the cash register. Julia and I decided they must be running the meth out of there or something.

>Yep, the Village 6 is the Ghettoplex. Maybe I'm being unfair. I haven't seen a movie there in years. The last was back in the mists of time before digital. The audio was distorted, (the film stock of Master & Commander actually CAUGHT. ON. FIRE.) four of the six or seven stalls in the ladies' were spectacularly clogged, and the 14-year-old manager didn't give a shit. Or maybe he did, and that's why there was an inch of water on the floor in the bathroom.I remember when the Village 6 was shiny and new. The first summer it was open I was visiting from California, and my cousin and I walked from his house on Kaniksu Court to see The Empire Strikes Back.

>I saw Empire there too.Hell, I remember when the now-closed Triplex was shiny and new. In 1977 my cousin and I saw the first Star Wars, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and Viva Knievel! all in the same damn day. Ah, the days of my glorious youth!